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In the spirit of communicating via summary sheets and videos, keep in mind that Millennials are a generation who are happy to converse via text, so when writing emails, keep them brief. Utilize the subject line to give a snapshot of the email. Better yet, utilize text. Texting is not only an acceptable form of communication but may garner a quicker response than email.

While Millennials may seem to speak a different language of IDK (I don’t know) and TL;DR (Too long; didn’t read), learning their language and communication preferences can benefit the organization as a whole.

When explaining important information, such as benefits, specific policies and procedures, and the like, face-to-face communication is best. Eighty-six percent of Millennials say that benefits influence their decision to stay with an employer. However, they do not want to spend time reading to learn about their benefits. Instead of over-stuffed information packets, face-to-face benefits presentations along with short, graphic summary sheets work best. If a face-to-face presentation is not possible, utilizing a video presentation is just as effective.

Summary sheets and videos are effective not only for benefits information, but for all aspects of the on-boarding process and company wide updates and announcements. Building a robust company intranet complete with benefits information, summary sheets, contact lists, videos, and more will keep engaged and everyone else informed.

While technology has been embraced in most of areas of the corporate world, there are still areas that remain in the “dark ages” of large handbooks, guides, and pamphlets. This is especially true when it comes to employee benefits information or other on-boarding and training materials. And, communication methods remain low-tech at some companies. With more and more Millennials entering the workforce, these methods can lead to a complete communication breakdown.

Millennials are technology dependent. They have no concept of a world without the internet and are more comfortable reading from a computer screen and typing on a keyboard, rather than writing in a notebook. Today, more college students use electronic textbooks than traditional textbooks. When sharing new employee materials or updated information, it is best to do so electronically. Placing employee handbooks, benefits package information, summary sheets, and other important information on a company intranet is ideal for everyone, not just the youngest team members.

You may recall Millennials want diversity in the workplace, flexibility, safety and career security, jobs that nurture their core values and the opportunity to constantly gain new experience.

While this may seem like a tall order, if a company can help cultivate this generation into leaders through mentoring, professional development, and re-recruitment, they will be rewarded with a loyal team member.

Failure to reassess the corporate organization and culture to include Millennials will result in high turnover and a loss of productivity. It will also alienate the next generation of minds who can help change the face of work as we know it.

Next time we share the best way to communicate with the more junior members of the team.

This generation wants to make a difference and is not afraid to work hard to achieve their goals. They yearn to work for a company that they believe in.

Seventy-eight percent of millennials will choose their employer based on its ability to innovate. The current corporate structure in many companies lacks innovation. The attitude that a work day is 8 to 9 hours and performed in a cubicle until working your way up the ladder by putting in unpaid overtime doesn’t cut it.

What do Millennials want from their employer?
• Diversity in the workplace
• Flexibility
• Safety and security in their career
• Jobs that nurture their core values
• Constantly gain new experience

Demographics in the workplace are rapidly changing. Baby Boomers are retiring. Generation X is moving out of middle management into upper level positions, leaving Millennials to fill their shoes. The youngest members of the workplace have a very different approach to work than any other generation before them.

Millennials have often been called a generation of entitlement. While this is not true, it is easy to understand how they gained this stereotype. Children born between the early 1980’s and the early 2000’s have grown up with technology, full schedules of extracurricular activities, and helicopter parents.

They have also witnessed violence in schools and workplaces and have, many times, seen their parents being laid-off after years of loyal service to an employer. Because of all these experiences, they have a basic belief that there is more to life than work and that work can be performed anytime, anywhere.

Empty seats equal missed revenue. I know, I’ve harped on this subject in the past but, in today’s tight, highly-competitive “human capital” market filling those seats with satisfied, long-term revenue producers is critical. Which suggests outsourcing talent acquisition may have a multiplier effect on your business and its growth.

What are experienced, driven marketing executives looking for in today’s market?

Allow me to share comments from an outstanding sales director I spoke with earlier today. He’s looking for a firm with a differentiated product coupled with a strategy to keep ahead of the competition and established culture that unconditionally supports its employees. A place with around 100 dedicated souls who bring a positive attitude, enjoy collaboration and thrive on applauding everyone’s successes.

If that describes your company let’s talk. I’d love to help keep the momentum rushing forward.

Before the days of internet driven non-stop, instant communications my employer, WSJ, engaged with Xerox to improve listening skills believing if we became proficient in actually hearing what was being said productivity would increase. And, it did. For some more than others but that’s another story.

I read today around 1/3 of the workforce is so overwhelmed by their company’s communication’s tools they’re thinking of quitting their jobs. Management acknowledges significant loss in revenue to due to missed or poor internal communications – over three billion dollars in annual profits from wasted time alone!

The Dynamic Signal study found that most workers (51 percent) do not feel properly informed by their company, ultimately feeling disconnected (57 percent), unhappy (33 percent) and not valued (76 percent) for their work, resulting in workplace departures.
Being able to listen to others is imperative in the communication process. This means not only listening with your ears, but also being able to comprehend what the person is saying. And receiving confirming feedback.

I’m a recruiter so helping companies find talent is my job but none of us in this profession want to deal with a workforce incapable of managing communications. To management I’d suggest immediately setting basic communications guidelines holding department heads accountable. To HR leadership I suggest all exit interviews probe for this issue reporting progress to senior management. To those faced with a wide array of tools, time demands and that awful feeling of having missed something really important don’t quit but do demand management deliver a workable fix.

A workable fix could be as easy as (a) severely limiting using the annoying, “reply all” response, (a) taking a few minutes each morning before opening one’s computer to make a prioritize TO DO list and, the really tough one, ignoring the internal chatter.

Let’s say you’re earning over $300k. Again, in the New Year, your quota was raised so to make the same this year you need to sell $360k. Company offers competitive benefits like unlimited paid vacation (on a modest base) and open-bar Fridays. Account Services is on top of their game but are increasingly spread thin putting more pressure on keeping promises and delivering on time.

So, you looked at your 2017 calendar and tax return only to discover some enlightening facts. Like, after taxes, your earnings were $160k. Over the course of this job you’ve had 3 managers and the company has had two senior level house cleanings. Across 52 work weeks you managed 12 days’ vacation and 12 holidays including Cinco de Mayo.

Here’s where the data tells the real story. You average 12.5 hours working each day not counting commuting: 236 days X 12.5 hours = 2950 hours/year roughly equal to $55 per hour after taxes. Now, go find the last plumber or electrician’s bill and take a look at their hourly fee.

Since educator’s salaries are a hot news topic did you know a secondary school administrator in Silver Springs, MD hourly mean average pay is $53.41 according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017)? If you’ve read this far and your head is exploding consider having that intro chat with the next recruiter who reaches out and take the conversation beyond money. You might discover there’s some exciting aspects to living with a company you’ve never considered.

I read a short piece on finding talent in tight markets (read: low unemployment) written by a CEO of a full service ad agency whose early career was working with a major consulting group.
She asked the question, “So what’s a small business to do when competing for talent with companies that might have bigger purse strings and a sexier name?”
To address the issue most companies, large and small, should either fire their HR department or, in a kinder gesture, isolate the educable from the “sheep” and teach them look for problem solvers. You know the type – it’s the person who leans away from consensus, the person who tends to break process and the person who has a record of delivering when others are still doing what they’ve always done regardless of results.
If you want your company to do great work – you know, the stuff that’s positive-disruptive employing the game-changing strategy that has clients and the competition saying, “wish I’d thought of that” remove your industry-only blinders, look across the entire business horizon and dig-deep for the next generation of leaders and thinkers.
That’s what we do for our clients.